Is King Really A lazy Piece?

Hello, everyone and welcome back to another blog. In this, I want to answer a very intriguing question, "Is king really a lazy piece?"

Chess is a team battle. All the pieces play an active role in the game with only one goal: to defeat the opposition. Yet, more often than not, we find the king hiding in a corner. It becomes more of a burden than a powerful piece.

King is the most important piece in the game and worth hiding. Yet, sometimes, it is very important to put the old man to some work. So, I am going to show some instances where some really skillful player unleashes the true power of the king and wins the game.

The Endgame Game Changer

Let's start with the most obvious one. From being the most useless piece, in the endgame, the king becomes one of the most powerful pieces. (unless there is a queen.) Often time, king activity is what makes the difference between winning and losing the endgame.

Both sides had equal materials. Then why did it go so bad for white so quickly? The answer is king activity. Now, consider an almost identical scenario, but with an active king for white. That would make it a draw.

So, in Endgame, you should always try to activate your king as soon as possible, instead of randomly moving your pawns or pieces.

 

Caution: 

Do not randomly bring the king to the center. Rather, set a target, and bring the king there. In the words of GM Daniel Naroditsky, chart a course for the king. Here is a nice little example:

Now a nice little last example to illustrate both the concept of activating king and charting the course:

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King Walk

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Often time, the king hardly moves in middlegame; unless your opponent is crazy and sacrifices all of their pieces to dance your king. However, can you imagine a king walking from one side of the board to another side willingly in a seemingly peaceful position?

Yes, that does happen. (Do not try this at home unless you are above a certain rating). Let me show a nice example of it:

As you can see, GM Ding Liren masterfully walked his king from one side of the board to another side. In fact, Ding is famous for his king walk. 

 

Let's break down king walk:

1. The position has to be closed or semi-closed. In the previous position, it was a completely closed position.

2. Opponent has no good way to open up the center very quickly. In other words, the opponent has no way to attack your king while he is on his journey.

3. It helps to achieve a very important plan.

Only when all of these 4 points are matched, you can include king walk into your consideration.

A test:

                                                             

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A Burden

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Although the king is very powerful in Endgames and sometimes in closed middlegame positions, more often than not, it hides in the corner and becomes a burden. Here is an example:

The king often becomes a target of many tactics. A completely winning game may be overturned because of a weak king. While throwing away games like the above diagram, players tend to blame the king by saying, "a good-for-nothing piece". And in fact, the king doesn't move often in the opening and open positions.

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Conclusion:

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As you can see, the king is in fact a very powerful piece in Endgame and also becomes mobile in the closed middlegame positions. However, the king hardly moves in the opening or open middle-game positions. However, it is not a completely useless lazy piece, just another piece with different strengths and weaknesses. Thus, the answer to the question is, "No, it is not a completely lazy piece." 

Anyway, let's finish the blog with another king meme.